


Born of Love, Bathed in Hate

by Dream_Traveler_Kirvee



Series: Demon Story Excerpts and Side Stories [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, Gen, Legends, Origin Story, POV Animal, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 14:30:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17102351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dream_Traveler_Kirvee/pseuds/Dream_Traveler_Kirvee
Summary: Recording the history of something which has existed for thousands and thousands of years can be pretty tricky, especially with all the information decay that happens.But, that's how legends are born, aren't they?





	Born of Love, Bathed in Hate

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr's dying which means I need to find a new place to host side stories I'd written for my novel over the many years since its inception. I thought original work wasn't allowed on AO3, but apparently there's an original work category for a reason so....why not?
> 
> Anyway, I figured I'd post this story first since it's one of many possible in-universe legends for the origins of one of the major races in the story. This is a narrative piece written in 2011 and meant to sound like a recounted fairytale of sorts.
> 
> The only changes I'm making to it between the version on my Tumblr and this is a few simple grammar/spelling mistakes that weren't caught before. All other errors are due to it being 7 years old.

Legend has it that demons used to never exist. However, we know today that is not true. So, then, how and why did demons come into existence? Well…

It is said that there was once a beautiful maiden who lived amicably well with her father. However, though she was the most beautiful woman in her village and men were constantly courting her wherever she went, she was very lonely.

Seeing his daughter so miserable despite all the attention she received, her father pooled together what funds he could from his respectable business and bought her a pet, hoping that the small animal would provide his daughter with a sense of happiness the men courting her did not.

Sure enough, the maiden was elated at having a pet and loved it and cared for it dearly. And the pet, in turn, grew to love the maiden as only an animal can know how to love.

So it was for some time, and every day men continued to fawn over the young maiden til finally there was one who caught her fancy and they were wed. The beloved pet was intimately involved in all of this, because its owner would oft sit outside its cage and talk animatedly as most girls are apt to do. And the pet listened silently, as a proper companion should do, and whose happiness was fed from the maiden’s genuine happiness.

Years passed and the maiden—now a married woman—continued to love and care for her pet. However, what had started as a beautiful relationship became an embittered storm that distressed the poor pet, as the once courteous man gave way to a monstrous double that gave nothing but pain and misery to the broken maiden.

Most times, the pet was witness to these horrific events—the only witness, unable to speak in its lovely owner’s defense. And when the monster grew tired and stalked away to do something-or-other, the pet would listen with a bleeding heart to the sobs of its mistress. And in its heart stirred a wish to be able to leap out of its cage and hold its mistress, or whisk her away and love her as she should and deserved to be loved.

Eventually the broken maiden was able to leave the horrible monster who had stolen a piece of her beauty and took her pet and herself to live secluded in another village house—paid for by her father as a way of apology. There, she tried again to find the love that she had sought for with that monster, but every man she brought back to her bed would be just as horrible. The pet, meanwhile, saw all of these injustices done to its beloved mistress, and the wish within its little heart grew stronger and stronger still.

But, as the course of nature dictates, animals are cursed with rather short-lived lives. Though it was young and healthy by human standards, in animal years it was quite old. And as all old things must do, they die. The broken maiden wept for the lost companion, because even though it had been many years, there was still not a man who saw her for anything but her beauty.

The beloved pet saw its mistress crying over its little body from the spirit world and mourned that it left so soon—and left her all alone. Though it had only been dead for a very short time, seeing its mistress in such pain caused something to stir within the creature’s spirit-heart. The wish that it had often made during its life began to strangely glow brighter than it had been before.

The light radiating from the will contained within that wish and the pure love felt for the broken maiden shone so brightly that for a moment the beloved pet was blinded though it was but a soul now.

When the light began to dim and fade in its intensity, the beloved pet found itself staring face-to-face with its mistress. However, everything felt different to the pet. The little pet now felt bigger, stronger, slightly unclothed and found itself able to think and talk like a human.

The beloved pet was filled with an overwhelming surge of joy that its long-thought wish came true! But, when its gaze turned hopefully to the broken maiden it had always loved, the previously sad face was replaced by one filled with fear and anger.

This confused the pet. Did the broken maiden not recognize the pet who had faithfully and lovingly stayed by her side all these years? Attempting to tell her of the identity of the strange being that now sat before her proved fruitless, as the broken maiden did nothing but scream and cry in horror, fear, and the lingering after taste of sadness and regret. The pet did its best to quiet its mistress’ cries, but she would not silence and began to extend her display of fear to petty name-calling.

The pet was suddenly assaulted by accusations of being a monster when it had done nothing but transcend to a form more suitable for its desires. Attempts to vanquish the unfounded fears were in vain and soon the pet was forced to flee lest its former mistress take drastic action.

Scorned, the once beloved pet wandered about, embittered by the rejection and hate that filled the woman it had loved so dearly. The scorned pet wandered everywhere, eventually realizing that this new form granted it a life that was, ironically, much more long-lived than that of the human it had loved with all of its beating, bleeding heart.

So goes the story of the first demon. A creature, both familiar and yet ethereally foreign, born of a love that stretched across innumerable boundaries, but was bathed in a hate so strong that it permeates and continues to this very day.

**Author's Note:**

> There's more where this came from.
> 
> Like I said, this is a related side story to a novel that I've been working on since 2007 that's near and dear to me. Though I'm a bit afraid of posting this since this and the two that come after it are among my oldest written pieces for this novel, so I'm like....ashamed of bad past writing but....I don't have anywhere else to really put this.
> 
> I do love talking about my novel though, so if you enjoyed reading this and are interested in more, please let me know! I might put the chapters I've written so far up here too.


End file.
